I've always suspected that there was something more to the selfish gene idea. I don't believe that our programming is simply to perpetuate the interests of our genes.

I believe a lot of our genes seek to perpetuate the interests of our gene pool. I believe that this is as good of an explanation for the existence of virtue as is that "selflessness turns out to benefit your self-interest."

I want to go one step further and say that our genes also seek to perpetuate the interest of the land.

Eco-fanatics make it seem like humanity is engaging in some unique sin by destroying Mother Earth, when I bet there were many tribes in the past that abused and plundered their land to their own peril. I believe that these tribes died off, and the ones that lived on now have a genetic predisposition of compassion to the environment.

You do have to ask why big civilizations have historically passed away. How come they didn't just reduce themselves by half to a more sustainable size, rather than becoming extinct all-together? When they died off, who and what survived?